‘Floating’
…your soul, floating in the great beyond, beautiful…
Floating
Tag: Soul
Solitary Soul
‘Solitary Soul’
………………
you,
alone,
solitary.
you,
alone,
stronger than you think.
you,
only you,
can save yourself.
Porthole (Tiny Soul Window)
‘Porthole (Tiny Soul Window)’
Past the imperfect paint work and the rust stains, to the tiny window on it all .Within, the shelter of the cabin; outside, the vastness of the sea. If I would peer through you, what sort of soul would I see?
Porthole (Tiny Soul Window)
‘Porthole (Tiny Soul Window)’
Past the imperfect paint work and the rust stains, to the tiny window on it all .Within, the shelter of the cabin; outside, the vastness of the sea. If I would peer through you, what sort of soul would I see?
Shrouded Mountains
‘Shrouded Mountains’
“I enter the world called real as one enters a mist” – Julien Green
You would think, wouldn’t you, that getting to reality, or even a sense of the real, would be easy or obvious.
We can tell an object is real because we can see or touch it.
Not so matters of life and the soul.
There is often the pain of the upwards mountainous trudge and the sheer f**king foggy uncertainty of it all.
Not immediately knowing what is true, and not getting to any semblance of the truth any time soon.
It is only step by faltering step, day by grinding day, that we find our shrouded reality.
Behind The Wall
‘Behind The Wall’
This shot found me peering over a stone wall in a quiet Scottish fishing town.
A lush lawn and garden is revealed, in contrast to the wall’s austerity.
Surprising!
Some people have hard, stony exteriors which don’t invite you in.
Maybe the facades hide softer, verdant souls…
Listen To The Lion
‘ Listen To The Lion’
Lions, of course, are symbols of courage and bravery.
Courage features in the second part of The Serenity Prayer:
“Courage to change the things I can”
I think about that which I can change at the start of the day. Whether I act depends largely on whether I have the guts to do so.
Some leonine musical inspiration comes from Irish singer-songwriter in one of his more extended songs:
” I shall search my very soul
for the lion
inside of me”
(Mr. Morrison really rips loose with the vocal chords on this number; the repetition too, as he hits full trance and utters the phrase “listen to the lion” over and over again at one point in the song. It makes for one of his more challenging listens, but that’s possibly the point. I still marvel that Van, well into his musical work by then, was still only 26 or so when this track was recorded – it sounds like someone with way more time and miles under the belt).
Tangled Up In Black
Twisted Vine in Black
With apologies to Bob Dylan, whose tangled tune was blue, not black.
Blue, black; it doesn’t matter really.
Tangled up-ness comes in any hue you like, as long as it is saturnine.
Any shape or form too, as long as it seems impossible to get through.
It mixes and matches to every sort of person quite nicely.
Think of it as Ikea for the dark night of the soul…
Dive
Dive
Dive down
dive then deeper
seeker of pearls
and hidden treasure
maybe found
or remained drowned
Dive anyway
in shimmering
translucence
Discovered then
your soul
ascends
-Andy L
Fractured
Self-help/lifestyle books and sites are full of tips to assist you to “lead your best life”.
I am not exactly in love with that phrase, nor some of the iffy suppositions behind it.
The general themes involve the person with the less than best life adopting new mental and physical practices,and sooner or later(preferably sooner) their life is transformed.
There are big assumptions in all of this – first, that you are able to help yourself (it wouldn’t be self-help otherwise!) and, secondly, that what has improved one person will do the same for another.
Sometimes true, often false.
Hard to assess, given the range of “solutions” on offer run the gamut from plain old common sense to ludicrous and even dangerous fads.
And mostly, the improvement schemes are aimed at ,and picked up by, those whose lives are just a bit “off “. Easy marks.
People who are broken, whose lives are fractured, fragmented, do not reach for lists with titles like “10 Ways To A Happier You – Now!” They don’t give a flying f**k about trite inspirational messages on cushions,bumper stickers or coffee mugs. If the Dalai Lama himself showed up on the doorstep,with his sweet infinite wisdom, they would tell him to piss off. And nobody, I repeat, nobody, needs a coffee enema…
When you cannot do life ,you can’t do “need to do” bullet point lists.
The ones who are lost, trust me on this, don’t need to be told how to make themselves whole or found ,or whatever.
They need to be understood and accepted ,and there is no quick fix in that. Only time, and the love of others, will reach the soul and give the fractured the wherewithal to move themselves on.
Easy Chair
Presented for your viewing pleasure: one well-used blue leatherette and fake suede easy chair in a corner of my Thursday workplace, draped with a marvellously technicolor crochet rug, with a hot pink stuffed toy as an armrest accoutrement. Beautiful!
It invites a damn good sit down. A quiet nap perhaps.
Nothing wrong with a bit of comfort.
Getting too comfortable is another thing altogether.
It doesn’t pay to regret the past – it is what it is, and not a lot to be done about it – but I can definitely think of times when I got way too comfortable in certain life situations, overstayed in one place or missed other opportunities that were begging. Even finding some strange comfort in the known surrounds of adverse and damaging circumstances, when the sensible thing to do would have been to run (not walk) away!
I’m not advocating a bed of nails instead of an easy chair in your corner – no one likes a masochist (sadists aside) -but just to seek that challenging edge that will ignite your soul and mind.
As they say, you snooze, you lose!
Windows To The Soul
It is said that eyes are windows to the soul.
These Barcelona windows at night are like a pair of eyes.
Showing an inner light and gazing on the passers-by and the goings on.
They will have seen it all and will know the true soul of this place.
Me, I am just a stranger here, with eyes of wonder in this spectacular city…
Joy Of Moving Water
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
– Rumi, excerpt from ‘Moving Water’
The Experiences And The Meaning
” We had the experiences but missed the meaning “
– T.S Eliot , ‘The Dry Salvages’
I went down to the water’s edge earlier this morning, the sun penetrating the sea fog, the light quietly spectacular. There was a fleeting moment of soul connection and calm.
Then, as is my wont, my mind ticked over to what I needed to do today, tomorrow and into the near future.
The moment was gone and the experience had lost its meaning.
The sun and the water had not changed, or maybe imperceptibly.
But I had moved on.
How many little moments or experiences are lost just like that, as I am “elsewhere” even though physically present?
And then the best I can hope for is that the meaning of the experience will come to me in hindsight.
Just a reminder to myself to be mindful and soulful, even in the smallest experience, for it may not occur again.
Ebb Then Flood 